CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Down a Reserve Center, Titans May Lose Starter

It appears Cal State Fullerton basketball Coach John Sneed has seen the last of reserve center Ron Caldwell, who was suspended from the team last week and has shown no inclination toward returning.

Sneed only hopes he hasn’t seen the last of starting center Aaron Wilhite, whose status remains unclear after he suffered a knee injury last week.

Wilhite, the Titans’ second-leading scorer (12.8 points per game) and rebounder (8.5), was scheduled to undergo a Magnetic Resonance Imaging test Monday night to determine if he had torn cartilage in his left knee.

Test results won’t be available for a day or two, but if the injury is serious and requires surgery, Wilhite might miss the rest of the season.

“I’m praying for the best,” Sneed said. “Aaron is the most solid, consistent front-line player we have and to lose him would be a major setback. That doesn’t mean we can’t be competitive--we were the other night--but we’d be down to a six-man rotation and one freshman who hasn’t played much.”

Without Wilhite or Caldwell, Fullerton upset 21st-ranked New Mexico State, 89-81, Saturday night. Agee Ward moved from power forward to center and had the best game of his career, making 11 of 13 shots for 26 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. He had five steals and no turnovers.

“I don’t know how he could have played any better,” Sneed said.

But in the same breath, Sneed reminds you that he doesn’t expect Ward to play great every game. Ward has been a dominant force some nights and a nonfactor on others. He had only seven points in last Monday’s loss to last-place San Jose State.

When Ward has had an off night, Wilhite and Caldwell often picked up the slack. But Sneed no longer has the luxury of having good depth in the front court.

Caldwell, who averaged 9.0 points and 5.5 rebounds, last Thursday was suspended indefinitely for missing several practices and team meetings.

“I left the door open, but I haven’t heard from him,” Sneed said. “I think he’s made his decision. If he wanted to play, I think I would have heard from him by now. There’s nothing else I can say about him.”

Asked Monday if he has any intention of returning, Caldwell said, “I don’t know. I’d rather not comment on the whole situation right now.”

Add Wilhite: Wilhite hurt his knee early in the game against San Jose State last Monday when he leaped for a fast-break pass from Wayne Williams and landed awkwardly. Strangely enough, Wilhite went on to have one of his best games of the season with 27 points and nine rebounds.

“It really didn’t hurt much until halftime when we were sitting around,” Wilhite said. “I put some heat on it and was OK for the second half. I thought it was just something minor, but it’s pretty serious.”

Wilhite, who may have compounded the problem by playing after the injury, said he couldn’t put any weight on the leg Monday and will miss tonight’s game against Cal State Long Beach. But he’s confident the injury won’t cut his season short.

“I’ll be back,” he said.

Sneed and Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg were disappointed when Thursday night’s game had to be postponed early in the first half because 49er forward Kevin Cutler’s dunk shattered a backboard in Titan Gym.

The game will be resumed at 7:30 tonight, making this a busy week for the Titans and 49ers. Fullerton, which Saturday beat New Mexico State, plays at UC Santa Barbara Thursday and UC Irvine Saturday.

Long Beach, which Saturday lost to Nevada Las Vegas, plays host to Utah State Thursday and San Jose State Saturday. That’s four games in eight days for both teams.

But all things considered, the schools were fortunate the incident happened when it did. Long Beach is a short bus ride away from Fullerton, so the 49ers didn’t have to make any major travel arrangements to return tonight.

What if the backboard broke against Utah State or New Mexico State, and what if those teams had home games two nights later? That would mess up some travel plans, or the teams might have been forced to make a costly return trip to Fullerton for a makeup game.

The game also wasn’t televised, so neither school lost any revenue, and a station didn’t have to fill air time or refund sponsors.

Fullerton men’s gymnastics Coach Dick Wolfe reports that Diego Lopez, a senior on his team, and Stacey Harris, a senior on the Titan women’s gymnastics team, have been doing cartwheels over each other, but this isn’t some new mixed pairs competition.

“They’re in love,” Wolfe said. “They’re engaged to be married this summer.”

Wonder if they met at a parallel bar?

Titan Notes

Senior center Genia Miller, who scored 80 points, had 38 rebounds and 14 blocked shots in three games last week, earned Big West Conference player of the week honors for the third time this season Monday. Miller shared this week’s honor with UC Irvine’s Yvonne Catala. . . . No one knew for sure, but several longtime Fullerton athletic department employees said Saturday’s doubleheader basketball sweep, in which the Titan women beat Nevada Las Vegas and the men beat New Mexico State, marked the first time ever that two nationally ranked opponents have lost to Fullerton in Titan Gym on the same night. . . . Fullerton linebacker Clarence Siler, who injured his ankle against Fresno State in the fifth game of the season, missed three games, and played slightly hurt in the final four games, has been invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis at the end of February. “Getting hurt might have been a blessing in disguise,” Titan Coach Gene Murphy said. “The scouts saw some good things in him early in the season, and now they want to get another look at him to see if he’s recovered from the injury.” . . . Murphy recently received four letters of intent from community college football players. Signing with the Titans: Jeff Robbins, a 6-3, 230-pound linebacker from Golden West; Derrick Miller, a 6-2, 180-pound receiver from American River; Bill Jones, a 6-4, 250-pound defensive lineman from Citrus, and Leonard Hudson, a 6-2, 190-pound defensive back from Mt. San Antonio. . . . In light of the the Persian Gulf War and the possibility of terrorist attacks, the school has increased security for basketball games, Associate Athletic Director Steve DiTolla said. Six to eight campus security officers, instead of the usual four, were on hand for two games last week, and ushers were instructed to remind fans where the closest exits are and how to evacuate Titan Gym in case of emergency. “We also searched the facility before the games, which is something we usually don’t do,” DiTolla said.